Contents

Skidmark wears a mask that covers the top half of his face, and later added a cape to his costume. The lower half of his face is dark skinned, with badly chapped lips and teeth that look like "shelled pistachio nuts". His health was visibly affected by his methamphetamine addiction.[4]

Skidmark has the ability create force fields that push things with about as much force as a strong wind.[5] His power caused the effected area to glow with a blue to violet color effect.[6]

He can apply this effect on any surface, up to a large but finite limit.[4] He could even coat his equipment and living things with the glow, causing anything that touched them to be pushed away. With Enough force to smash through metal pipes.[7][8] He could not move an effect after it has been applied,[9] but could dismiss it at will in a flash of light.[10]

Skidmark has shown that the effects can be layered up through multiple uses of his power increasing the severity of the effect.[11][5] With enough applications of his power layered on a surface he could theoretically deflect bullets,[9] or even topple endbringers.[9] Still he ran up against limits such as a steady stream of material could knock him down especially when he did not have time to set things up.[12]

He did not effectively explore the use of his power, limiting his effectiveness.

Following Bakuda's bombing spree, Skidmark went to Somer's Rock to discuss how they would deal with the Azn Bad Boys. He was denied a seat at the table with the other leaders and then stormed off to a booth with his teammates after failing to convince them that he deserved one.

He held what as essentially a gladiatorial match among members of the merchants. Explicitly for some to win 'powers from a can' as a prize, implicitly as a means to cause triggers among the participants.[11][14]Faultline and her Crew attacked and absconded with the most of the contents of the case, severely damaging his reputation.[15]

Skidmark later traveled to the island in the middle of the lake Leviathan had created on one of Squealer's vehicles. There, Hookwolf asked him if he knew what keeping a low profile meant. Skidmark told him that he did and then told Hookwolf that Squealer had created a box that that canceled out light and noise at a certain distance. Spotting Faultline, he then asked her why she had messed with his party. He asked her who had hired them, telling her that the Merchants wouldn't come after her group, and said that they would be even if she paid him back for the product they stole. Faultline refused and then went on to ask Hookwolf why Skidmark had been invited.

Skidmark listened as Hookwolf explained what the Undersiders and the Travelers had been doing. When Trickster told them that they didn't want to take over their territories, Skidmark swore under his breathe. His team was able to take part in the strategy negotiations with the local Protectorate team.

Later, Skidmark addressed his underlings from an aircraft Squealer had made. He told them that a green armband meant poison before telling them that he was going to make it the worst of the bad trips. He then explained how they would take a handful of pills and then fall into a coffin where something bad would happen to them. He then told them that those who survived getting buried alive would earn the green armband and that, for those with the armband, everything that they bought from him would be ten percent off.[16]

Skidmark stopped and then dropped his microphone. His hands went to his stomach where Jack Slash had hit him before he turned to run. He was cut on his arms, his butt, his back, and the back of his neck. He stumbled and fell whereupon he tried to crawl away only for his reaching fingers to be cut off. The aircraft lurched and Skidmark slid backwards. He used his power to right himself, but ended up dropping into the propeller blades.[16]

↑Skidmark – Leader of the Merchants, a foul-mouthed individual with the ability to create a deflector field, a force field that pushes things through itself or pushes them away. - Cast (spoiler free)

↑ 4.04.1Skidmark (Deceased) – Leader of the Merchants, Skidmark was a meth addict in a serious state of physical decline and ill health. Capable of creating an effect that coated an area and pushed things in one direction. Killed by the Nine. -
Cast (in depth)

↑ 5.05.1His power wasn’t strong, it didn’t have much more push to it than a strong wind. Any attempt to get it as effective as it had been at the edge of the arena took time and multiple layers of the effect. - Excerpt from Infestation 11.7

↑Skidmark raised his hands, and then swept them in a downward motion. Twin shimmers not dissimilar to the heated air you saw above a hot road blasted towards the crowd. Where the shimmers touched the ground, they changed the color of the flooring, creating bands of glowing ground six or seven feet wide. After swirling for a moment, the colors settled into a gradient, stretching from violet on one side of the line to a pale blue on the other side.

The people who found themselves in the middle of the effect were dragged towards the blue side, as if they were standing on a steep slope. The crowd roared, and began pushing people towards the effect. Anyone who touched the purple side was caught with a greater force, dragged through to the blue side and cast towards the bulk of the crowd, sliding on the ground with enough force to stagger anyone they ran into. The blue side seemed weaker, with anyone stepping on it finding strong resistance, as if they were trying to move against a strong headwind on oil-slick ground. Only a handful of people made it out without being pushed back by the effects of Skidmark’s power or by the crowd that ringed the area.

Skidmark repeated the process to draw what I realized was a crude square in the middle of the mall, the ‘blue’ sides facing inward. As he layered his power over the same area, the colors of the effect became darker, the ground below less visible and the effects on the people were all the more violent. The blue sides had become dark blue, and instead of simply pushing against those who touched them, they threw people back towards the center of the ring. - Excerpt from Infestation 11.5

↑In reaction, Skidmark used his power to coat his cape in a layer of his power. He raised it between himself and Newter. Newter was already airborne, unable to change course, but he had the presence of mind to hock a loogie into Squealer’s face. He bounced off of the cape, knocking Skidmark back, and fell to the ground.

Skidmark used his power to saturate Newter and the ground around him. As his power took hold, Newter was launched through the rungs of the metal railing and down into the midst of the crowd at the base of the stage. - Excerpt from Infestation 11.7

↑His power streaked from his hand to the ground where the canisters and metal case sat. I could see Faultline’s expression change behind her mask, saw her set her feet and start sprinting for the case before Skidmark’s power even took hold.

The metal box and canisters launched out over the edge of the platform and into the air above the crowd. Only a few papers escaped the case at first, but his power had saturated the insides of the box. Just after reaching the apex of its flight, his power seized the contents and the case expelled everything from within. Papers slid off one another and into the air, forming a small cloud.[...] I drew clouds of my bugs from the ceiling, catching the papers that weren’t saturated with Skidmark’s power, collecting my bugs on them. - Excerpt from Infestation 11.7

↑Gregor was keeping up his steady pressure, alternating between blasting Trainwreck and blasting Mush with one hand and aiming at Skidmark with the other. Skidmark used his power to push away the worst of the slime, but it was clear he was losing. His power wasn’t strong, it didn’t have much more push to it than a strong wind. Any attempt to get it as effective as it had been at the edge of the arena took time and multiple layers of the effect. In short, Gregor could make the slime more easily than Skidmark could get rid of it. - Excerpt from Infestation 11.7

Also means a mark left on the road by spinning tires with insufficient traction.

Whether the double meaning is an intentional crudity on Skidmark’s part (as with Squealer) or if it was just a case of him being bad at picking cape names? I leave it to you guys to decide.Wildbow comment onInfestation 11.6